The invention relates to a method of producing a bucket wheel body having a supporting body formed of a single sheet of metal with an approximately frustoconical cross section, particularly for use in open pit mining.
Federal Republic of Germany Patent 2,314,241 discloses a bucket wheel without cells having a conical supporting body which is rotatably mounted on the bucket wheel shaft and to which is fastened an annular body supporting the buckets. The supporting body is composed of a disc which can be produced by rolling in one process step. The essential drawbacks of this type of shaping are that outlines can be produced only in one direction, starting from the center of the bucket wheel so that, in order to provide the necessary stability, a number of welding procedures (application of reinforcements or the like) must be performed. This measure increases the overall weight of the bucket wheel body. Another drawback is the likewise expensive mounting of the buckets at the outer periphery of the bucket wheel body which must also be produced by welding.
Even if the basic body can already be produced in one process step, the still required work must be considered to be time and cost intensive, with welding work at the annular carrier and at the supports being difficultly accessible once the bucket wheel is completed. This produces problems during necessary repair measures so that the bucket wheel excavator must be shut down for a longer period of time.